<blockquote>
NW: i dont know where to begin... can you prepare interview questions?

I'm sure I could try, although I've never done that before. You shouldn't feel obligated to answer any question I might come up with, or to limit yourself to the ones I have. Feel free to toss your own questions in if I miss any good ones.

Let's see now... every story has a beginning so that's the logical place to start:<blockquote>

- When did this begin for you?

- What sort of "symptoms" were you experiencing on a physical, emotional, mental, spiritual level?

- What else was going on in your life at that time?

- Was there any link between the events in your life and the symptoms you were having/experience you were having?

- What was it like to go through that experience?

- Were you scared? sad? elated?

- Were there any spiritual or numinous aspects to your experience?

- What was the response of those around you to your experience?

- Were you hospitalized? Medicated?

- Did you find this helpful/unhelpful? Why?

- What labels were applied to your experience, either by yourself or those around you?

- How did you feel about those words?

- What happened next? Were you able to quickly return to a state of productivity, e.g., returning to school or work?

- How did you feel about your experience at this time? Confused? Ashamed? Concerned? Elated?

- Was there anything of value in your experience?

- When did you begin to "recover"?

- What factors were helpful to you at that time?

- Can you identify any breakthrough points in your recovery?

- Where did your best forms of support come from -- family members? friends? peers? professionals?

- What did you most need at that time? Did you get it?

- What role did medication or therapy play in your recovery?

- What would you recommend to other people who are reaching for recovery?

- How do you feel about your experience now? Has it changed you?

- What have you learned as a result of your experience?</blockquote>

Those are completely off the cuff and in no particular order. Feel free to answer the ones you wish to answer, to answer different questions, and to expound in whatever direction you wish to go. About the only recommendation I would make is to copy those questions into a separate document so you can hang out with them and your answers for a while because if you're anything like me, you're going to want to edit, edit and edit some more.

Anyone else who wishes to try the above exercise as a means of "voicing" their recovery is welcome to do so. You don't even have to share it if you would prefer not to.

For those who may be interested, my own definitions of recovery can be found here: Defining Recovery